Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Bean was desperate last night for an apron of her own (not a smock, for babies, but a REAL apron, like mama.

she chose this squirrel print from my stash (along with about 12 others), and then I used some scraps of blue shirting to put on the ruffle and waistband. Within seconds of putting it on happily, she was complaining over the lack of pockets. (which were missing because I couldn't bear to cover up the adorable squirrels)

she INSISTED that there must be 2 pockets ("one for this hand, and one over here, for this hand")

here's a little action shot...

and here's the big drama shot, since I asked her to hold still and pose so I could take a picture. Tragic, right?

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

I'm not sure how much I love this one....I decided to try the Aviatrix pattern without a full horizontal stripe, or a vertical stripe, and either the missing stripe or the pastel colors have made this version rather ho-hum....but then I put it on her, and it's SO cute!it zips up the back...and has long sleeves (with elastic in the cuffs), to keep her warm in the spring breezes...

Sunday, April 17, 2011

I got totally inspired by this fabric yesterday....
it took about 6 hours, with lots of kidlet interruption along the way... but the finished result is SO cute, I'm sure I'll make this again and again.
the blue part is all shirred with elastic thread, so it's stretchy, and then there's a bow in the back to tie it a little tighter, if necessary... the sleeves are flutter sleeves, to cover the shoulders from the hot summer sun in the garden.... there's a pocket for storing snacks or collecting treasures.... and the back top has 2 quick and simple snaps to hold it on.... I'm thinking of selling this dress, and then selling the pattern. It's pretty easy, though it IS time consuming to shir all that.... but LOOK at the finished product!!!

I started this about a month ago, but finally finished it last night (hand sewing... sigh. I LOVE it, but finding the time....)
For some reason, The Bean is super pouty right now, but also insists on wearing this, so I needed to get pics before it gets stained by... whatever it is this 2 year old does to stain ALL her clothes. it's mostly made from a skirt from a friend (Hi, Angel!), with some self-made bias to trim the neck and sleeves. (made of Kona Cotton from Sew Modern) I used the original hem, but cut the sides and French-seamed them back together....
Both the front and the back are shirred, and then the collar has elastic cased in the bias...

Friday, April 15, 2011

A friend of mine has a local T-shirt company, and I asked for her messed up shirts, so I could play with them....

She had a mens XL, which had 2 tridents on it, instead of one, and was on the wrong brand of t-shirt, so I chopped it to bits, and made this...

It's reversible (front-back, not inside-out), since I couldn't decide which I liked better...Hopefully it will both fit her 3year old little girl, and be a fun advertisement for Trident General Store....

I want more big shirts now, as it was super fun to do, and I think the finished product will be comfy and cute on Kate....I love setting Project Runway style challenges for myself (wait till you see the dress I just made from a friend's skirt! tomorrow, hopefully), so tonight it was 2 finished dresses, the one above made using ONLY the tshirt, not adding any fabrics.... FUN!

I've had my hands full this week with our new chicks, we now have 4 new chickens (pictured here is The Bean's Cochin, Sue, being fed by D, and held by me), all between 6 and 10 weeks. so cute! more pictures to come!

oh, and my cat, always desperate for attention, decided to be a bird himself today (possibly to make up for the one he killed earlier in the week), and nested in some wreaths.... the chalk around him is so pastel-y and eastery, I couldn't stop laughing at him....

I didn't string piece any of these, but cut them out using the newspaper as a pattern.

I'm not huge on precision, so I actually didn't pin, but just started out holding the edges even, with the smaller piece on top, and the grey 1/4 circles on the bottom.... (Convex on top of concave, RST), and stretched them to fit as I sewed them.... most turned out totally fine.

once the corner pieces are done, I pressed them flat, and sewed a corner piece to each center piece, again, convex on top of concave.

press again, (however you want), and admire....

I sent everyone enough to do 2 blocks, hope that's ok... please don't attach them to each other though, I'm gonna scramble them up....

Please feel free to keep any and all scraps, or send back, and also feel free to use your own scraps, if they're mostly green.... embroidery, etc is also welcome....

Ok, so this is the finished block I'm having my Bee make this month, for a big quilt for D...

I've sent everyone enough to make 2 of these blocks, if possible...
so each packet has 4 grey/black 1/4circles (the roads), newspaper templates of the center piece and corner pieces, and lots of scraps (both my own, and scraps from friends)...

the blocks will be 8.5" square, so when the quilt is finished the blocks will be 8" square....

the first step is to string piece the newspaper templates.... you ladies are all so talented, I'm sure you already

know how to paper/string piece, but if you want a refresher, click here or here ( I like the 2nd link because you only sew through the paper 1 time, making it easier to rip off later, but feel free to do it however you like!) String pieces can be HUGE (1 piece of fabric for the whole piece), small (all string pieced), or anywhere in between. please use more solids than novelties, if possible, as the novelties should be a novelty, and I don't want to make the quilt look like scrap vomit, but rather like an old rag quilt.

anyway, after you sew enough strips to cover the newspaper, press, flip, and use the newspaper as a template and cut it out.

Because I have NO idea why photos won't publish. things look all good, I'm going from google's Picasa to google's bogger, so it's not like it should be super complicated, but sometimes, I get broken pictures and have NO clue what to do.

so here's a picture of my door. isn't it pretty? The color change has made a huge difference!
Although, because it is darker, both C and I have had flashes of panic upon returning home, thinking we left the door open, before we remember that the closed door looks dark now.

Something is up with my right hand/wrist/arm, it hurts like the dickens when I try to hold things (like knitting needles, or dirty dishes), so I'm taking it easy right now.... no knitting of easter bunnies, or socks, or chrocheted blankets, or embroidery, or even washing dirty dishes (sorry, C, but I tried today, and felt shooting pain, and almost dropped the glass, so that's out now too), and hoping that if I rest my arm for a few days, (with the Ace bandage borrowed from my dad), I'll get all better and be back to regular... we'll see.... theoretically I could sew, but I'm feeling burnt out right now... I was sewing while I was sick, pushing myself to meet self-imposed deadlines, and now that those deadlines have been met, I just feel like curling up with a good book (found at the library, judged by the cover, LOVING it!), and falling asleep with the kitties around me.

hopefully I'll get my mojo back in time for the Sew this weekend, assuming C isn't totally swamped at work all weekend.

btw, do any of you use pinterest? I love it so much, please let me know if you want an invite, and please feel free to follow me on pinterest... I pin stuff constantly.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

We had to go to Lowe's this morning anyway, to do the kids clinic (they LOVE it), so I bought a little thing of exterior paint in the PERFECT shade of blue "Valspar Vintage Teal") I HATE the color of our house (beige). but it was painted RIGHT before we bought it, and it's too expensive to repaint it JUST for color, so we haven't even talked about it.... but just painting the DOOR is totally cheap, and I think it made a HUGE difference.

Remember this wreath? isn't it SO much prettier on this nice door? It took my WONDERFUL husband about 3 hours of sanding to get off all the layers of old ugly paint, but we have wood grain now, and blue, and I'm in HEAVEN. He spackled the old holes in it too... and we covered the non-working doorbell hole and painted over that too, so now our entrance is SO much nicer. I really want to find an old, cool doorknocker now.... something totally awesome and vintage....

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Tada! A finished bunny for C's grandma, for her birthday. D and The Bean have already put their names down for bunnies of their own. I'm sooooo pleased with how it came out, I'm willing to do more (that's rare for me, usually I'm a one-time girl).

About Me

I'm living in my home town of San Pedro, CA, (forgotten suburb of LA), with my WONDERFUL husband, 3 children (and 3 cats, a fish, and 2 big dogs). I love sewing, knitting, embroidery, dancing, reading, and learning new crafts...(when I'm not busy playing trains or construction, of course...) I also love ellipses and parenthetical statements.